[Paul B. Dean is Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser, at the U.S. Department of State] Thanks to Opinio Juris and VJIL for hosting this discussion and thanks of course to Professor Guymon for raising this interesting topic. I'm happy to provide what I hope will be a constructive response. I must emphasize that any views expressed herein are my own and not necessarily...
I begin by thanking Ryszard Piotrowicz and Jean Allain for agreeing to take on the somewhat delicate task of commenting on my critique of James Hathaway’s article. I am sure they will not be offended by my expressing sincere regret that Professor Hathaway himself declined to participate in this symposium. Neither respondent challenges (or seriously interrogates) my central conclusions: (i) Hathaway...
[Ryszard Piotrowicz is a Professor of Law at Aberystwyth University] I would like to make three points in relation to the articles by Prof. Hathaway and Dr Gallagher. First, It seems to me that Dr Gallagher effectively refutes the basic argument of Prof. Hathaway, that the developments in trafficking in human beings (THB) have served to distract attention from what is asserted...
[Dr. Jean Allain is a Reader in Public International Law at the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast and author of The Slavery Conventions: The Travaux Préparatoires of the 1926 League of Nations Convention and the 1956 United Nations Convention (2008) and “The Definition of Slavery in International Law” 52 Howard Law Journal 239 (2009)] There is nothing like a ‘response’...
I loathe anonymous blogging and anonymous commenting. I think that, in the absence of a compelling reason to remain anonymous, people who take provocative positions and vehemently criticize others should have the courage to do so openly, under their own name. That's why I respect someone like David Bernstein, no matter how much I disagree with him. That said, I understand...
There's an important roundtable in the May/June issue of Boston Review on the subject. (Who else finds Boston Review to be more interesting than the New York Review of Books these days?) It includes a lead-off piece making the case by University of Toronto political theorist Joseph Carens, with responses from Alex Aleinikoff, Linda Bosniak, Gerry Neuman, Peter Schuck, and...
I am not actually going to try and answer that question, but leave it to you. However, I did not want to let the occasion go by without marking it. The day it happened in 1989, I was actually at a human rights retreat organized by Henry Steiner and Philip Alston, a remarkable private meeting of human rights organizations, from...
Former guest blogger, Elizabeth Cassidy, passes along the following fellowship announcement from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). This is a one-year funded fellowship, perfect for those who research religious freedom under international law and who might, in the future, be looking to join the academy: USCIRF Announces 2009 Crapa Fellowship Program WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on...
Via Larry Solum and the indispensable Legal Theory Blog, I draw your attention to this sure-to-be controversial and provocative new article by Michael Stokes Paulsen, The Constitutional Power to Interpret International Law (Yale Law Journal 2009). Here is the SSRN abstract: What is the force of international law as a matter of U.S. law: 'Who determines that force' This Essay maintains...
Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s student note in the 1979 Yale Law Journal is a piece of work. It makes an extravagant case for Puerto Rican statehood based on terms of accession that are more favorable to Puerto Rico than any other state in the Union. Her proposal is a sort of affirmative action plan for what she describes as...
Readers will note that today Opinio Juris has incorporated a new comment feature that allows our readers to help regulate the quality of comments. The comment rating feature allows readers to vote “Yea” or “Nay” to any comment that is posted. After a certain number of negative votes are cast to a comment (we are still testing the...
I wanted to let OJ readers know that I will also be blogging over at Volokh Conspiracy, where Senior Conspirator Eugene Volokh has been kind enough to extend me an invitation. My reason for putting this up here is not so much to announce that, but instead to say that I am not going anywhere from OJ. I...
